Performance data storage

ABSTRACT

Performance data generated according to a first schema is read. From the first schema, object descriptors having common primitive types are identified. A second schema is then created. The second schema defines a plurality of rows and at least one column. The rows include a record corresponding to an identified object descriptor. The at least one column corresponds to a primitive type in common with the identified object descriptors.

BACKGROUND

Performance data for network devices such as, for example, counters andlink/interface state data, are typically used to monitor variousparameters of hardware and software systems. Counter data is collectedand analyzed to evaluate performance of systems and, possibly, identifyscope for their improvement. In addition, link/interface state dataprovides information regarding the operational health of a device. Someexample systems that provide counter and link/interface data include,software applications, virtual machines, physical machines, andoperating systems.

Performance data is stored in databases and analytic tools may be usedto explore and derive insights from stored data. A schema is designedfor storing the performance data. One of skill in the art willappreciate that the operational cost and performance characteristics ofa data storage system depends on the choice of schema. For instance, aschema used to store the counter data includes several columns such as,for example, a time stamp column, a device key column, a device addresscolumn, an interface column, a counter type column, and a counter valuecolumn. As the counter data is collected and stored, several rows ofdata are generated. For example, if there are ten counter types, teninterfaces, and ten thousand devices, then a total of one million rowsof data are generated for a single sampling interval. If a sample iscollected every minute, then about one and a half billion rows aregenerated per day. Storing such a large amount of data may causeperformance degradation problems for the underlying data storage system.For example, storing large amounts of data may increase query responsetimes, may increase storage costs, and may even compromise the integrityof the data stored.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Example embodiments are described in detail in the following descriptionwith reference to the following figures. The example embodiments areillustrated in the accompanying figures in which like reference numeralsindicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for managing performance data according toan example embodiment.

FIG. 2A illustrates performance data according to a first schemaaccording to an example embodiment.

FIG. 2B illustrates performance data stored according to a first schemaaccording to an example embodiment.

FIG. 2C illustrates performance data stored according to a first schemaaccording to an example embodiment

FIG. 3A illustrates data stored according to a second schema accordingto an example embodiment.

FIG. 3B illustrates data stored according to a second schema accordingto an example embodiment.

FIG. 3C illustrates data stored according to a second schema accordingto an example embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates data stored according to a second schema afterapplying normalization according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of querying data stored according toa second schema according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a method of performance data management according toan example embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method of performance data management according toanother example embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates a computer system according to an example embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the present disclosure isdescribed by referring to example embodiments. In the followingdescription, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providean understanding of the example embodiments. However, it will beapparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, that the exampleembodiments may be practiced without limitation to these specificdetails. In some instances, well known methods and/or structures havenot been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure thedescription. Furthermore, the example embodiments may be used togetherin various combinations. In addition, the use of “a” or “an” before anyelement in the present disclosure and claims refers to at least one ofthat element.

According to examples of the present disclosure, performance data ofsoftware or hardware systems based on a first schema is read, objectdescriptors having one or more common primitive types are identified,and a second schema is created to define at least one columncorresponding to a primitive type in common with the identified objectdescriptors. The second schema also defines rows to include recordscorresponding to the identified object descriptors. Consistent with thepresent disclosure, in a first schema a primitive type such as a countername is represented as a character string, whereas in the correspondingsecond schema the primitive type is a column name.

The first schema includes fields for a time stamp, an instanceidentifier, an object descriptor, a primitive type, and a primitivevalue. The instance identifier may be a physical instance identifier ora logical instance identifier. A physical instance identifier mayidentify a physical device such as, for example, a router, a switch, ahub, a modem, a server, a personal computer, or a laptop. A logicalinstance identifier may identify a logical construct such as, forexample, a logical router instance, a database instance, a Virtual LAN(“VLAN”), a Virtual Channel (“VC”), a Virtual Path (“VP”) aMultiprotocol Label Switch instance (“MPLS”), or an Autonomous Systeminstance. An object descriptor may describe performance data associatedwith the instances. The performance data may include, for example,interface data, central processing unit (CPU) data, Link State Path(LSP) data, Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) data, Virtual Channel (VC)data, or Virtual Path (VP) data.

Various types of data may be used to monitor performance of hardwareand/or software systems. Examples of such data include counters, linkstate data, and the like. More specific examples of counter data includecounters for CPU usage, disk operation, packet data and hittingexceptions. A primitive type may be defined for a type of monitored dataand associated primitive values are collected for that monitoringparameter. As an example, a primitive type may be counter data whereinthe primitive value is the actual counter value in the form of integers.As another example, the primitive type may be link state data, whereinthe primitive value may be in form of string data such as “up”/“down” or“administratively shut” or in the form of special character data such asan up arrow (↑) or a down arrow (↓).

Based on the second schema, values of the object identifiers andprimitive values for one or more primitive types common to the objectidentifiers are collected in a table. The collected data is stored in adatabase and queried. Compared to data generated based on the firstschema, data generated based on the second schema has a reduced numberof rows. The number of rows and columns, the memory, and overall datafootprint may be several times lesser compared to data generated bystandard schemas such as the first schema. This may lead to a lowermemory requirement to store such data.

According to an example embodiment, normalization techniques may also beused to further reduce data footprint. Specifically, instanceidentifiers and object descriptors may be normalized by creating ametadata identifier, if data in their respective fields does not changeover a plurality of polling intervals. Furthermore, the objectdescriptors in the second schema are replaced with the correspondingmetadata identifiers.

According to an example embodiment, an index may be created to increasequery performance. In particular, an index corresponding to an instanceis created for data generated by the second schema. The primitive valueshowever are excluded for creating the index.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example embodiment of a system 100 for managingperformance data obtained from a computer network 140. System 100includes a schema generator 102, a normalizer 104, and an indexgenerator 106. Computer network 140 may include a number of computingdevices. These include router 112, computer 114, switch 116, and server118. Each of the computing devices may include a physical instance 120and/or a logical instance 122. Furthermore, each device may provideperformance data 110 indicative of the performance of the device. Schemagenerator 102 may read performance data 110 to generate a second schemain accordance with the present disclosure. Data stored in accordancewith the second schema generated by schema generator 102 may be storedin data storage 108. Data storage 108 may be any tabular form of datastorage such as, for example, a relational database, that can store datain accordance with the second schema. In an example embodiment, schemagenerator 102 reads performance data 110 generated from a first schema.Performance data 110 is received and stored according to the firstschema. Performance data 110 includes instance identifiers, e.g.,physical device identifiers or logical instance identifiers. Forexample, performance data 110 for server 118 may include data from aphysical instance 120 such as, for example, the hardware of server 118or a logical instance such as, for example, a software applicationrunning on server 118.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example of performance data 200 stored inaccordance with first schema 201. In an example embodiment, first schema201 used to store this data may be a “name-value” schema. Data 200 mayinclude a plurality of rows 202, a time stamp column 204, an instanceidentifier column 206, a device address column 208, an object descriptorcolumn 210, a primitive type column 212, and a primitive value column214. Time stamp column 204 includes time values that indicate when thecounter values are collected. The instance identifier column 206 mayinclude device keys. A device key may be a series of alphanumericcharacters assigned to a device such as, for example, a router. In thisexample, all the rows correspond to a single device key. The deviceaddress column 208 includes an IP address of the device. The objectdescriptor column 210 includes interface identifiers. In this example,the interface identifiers “lo,” “eth0,” and “eth1” may be names for thecorresponding interfaces on the computing device that provided theperformance data. Referring back to FIG. 1, the computing device may berouter 112, computer 114, switch 116, or server 118.

The primitive type column 212 may include counter types. In an exampleembodiment, “IfInOctets” is one counter type and “IfInUcastPkts” isanother counter type. The primitive value column 214 includes countervalues for the corresponding counter types. In case of network devices,counter data may be sampled using a push protocol or a pull protocol. Inpush protocol, counters are sampled on local timer on the device andthen the values are sent as a one-way stream. An example of pushprotocol is “SFLOW.” In pull protocol, the device responds to requestsfrom a remote management station, which has a list of counters that areof interest. Counter values are sent in response to such requests. Anexample of pull protocol is Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the communicationprotocols described above are examples only and that other suchprotocols may be used to communicate data between the computing devicesand the schema generator without departing from the scope of thisdisclosure.

Data 200 thus stored in accordance with the first schema 201 can be verylarge in size. For example, if there are ten counter types, teninterfaces, and ten thousand devices, then a total of one million rowsare generated just for one sampling interval. If the sampling intervalis one minute, then over a period of twenty-four hours, more than abillion rows of data are generated. Data thus stored can soon reach tothe order of terabytes. Any analysis on such data requires querying. Butwith such vast amounts of data, query response time may be adverselyaffected and computing performance may be degraded.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the schema generator 102 reads performancedata 110 generated from the first schema. The schema generator 102identifies object descriptors such as, for example, interfaceidentifiers, that have one or more common primitive types such as, forexample, counter types. For example, there may be several rows in thedata stored by the first schema in which interface identifiers (e.g.,“lo” and “eth0”) have a common counter type “IfInOctets” (as shown inFIG. 2). Schema generator 102 identifies such interface identifiers. Theschema generator 102 then creates a second schema. The second schemadefines a column corresponding to the common primitive type and aplurality of rows, where each row includes a record for an identifiedobject descriptor. In an example embodiment, the identified objectdescriptors would be interface identifiers “lo” and “eth0” and thecommon primitive type would be the counter type “IfInOctets”.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example of data 300 stored in accordance with thesecond schema 301. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate thatwhile FIG. 3A illustrates data 300 stored in accordance with the secondschema 301, the second schema 301 itself is the column names shown inFIG. 3A. The data 300 includes a plurality of rows 302 as per the secondschema 301, a time stamp column 304, an instance identifier column 306,an object descriptor column 308, a first primitive type column 310, anda second primitive column 312. In one example, data 300 is collectedfrom physical and/or logical instances in a network at predeterminedpolling or sampling intervals. A pull or push protocol may be used tocollect data. The time stamp column 304 includes time values thatindicate when the counter values are collected. The instance identifiercolumn 306 includes device keys. The device keys may represent aphysical instance of the device such as, for example, a router. A devicekey may be a series of alphanumeric characters assigned to the device.The object descriptor column 308 includes interface identifiers, namely,“lo,” “eth0,” and “eth1.” The first primitive type column 310 is for“IfInOctets” counter type and the second primitive column 312 is for“IfInUcastPkts” counter type. In addition, the first primitive typecolumn 310 and the second primitive column 312 include respectivecounter values.

Each row corresponds to data of an object descriptor taken at a momentin time. For example, the first row corresponds to “lo” interfaceidentifier, the second row corresponds to “eth0” interface identifier,and the third row corresponds to “eth1” interface identifier. One ofordinary skill in the art will that the number of rows has been reducedcompared to data generated based on the first schema. Repetitive objectdescriptor rows are consolidated and now each row corresponds tosnapshot of one object descriptor at a moment in time. One of ordinaryskill in the art will appreciate that the primitive values, e.g.,counter values, of corresponding primitive types such as “IfInOctets”and “IfInUcastPkts” will change from one polling interval to another. Byadding new columns for primitive types, the number of rows is reduced.An assumption for generating the second schema 301 is that the primitivetypes for a given source of data do not change very often.

FIG. 2B illustrates another example of performance data 220 stored inaccordance with first schema 201. Like schema 201 depicted in FIG. 2A,data 220 may include a plurality of rows 222, a time column 224, aninstance identifier column 226, an object descriptor column 228, aprimitive type column 230, and a primitive value column 232. Time stampcolumn 224 includes time values that indicate when the counter valuesare collected. The instance identifier column 206 may include softwareapplications running on a computing device such as an SQL server ornotepad. The object descriptor column 228 includes process ids. In anexample embodiment, a software application running on the computingdevice may have a corresponding process id. As shown in FIG. 2B, the“sqlserver” application has a process id of 435, whereas the “notepad”application has a process id of 437.

The primitive type column 230 in an example embodiment may includedifferent counter types identified by the counter names. As shown inFIG. 2B, the different counter types include “Processor Time”, “HandleCount” and “Thread Count”. One of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that other counter types may also be stored in accordancewith the schema depicted in FIG. 2B without departing from the scope ofthe present disclosure. In addition, the primitive value column 232stores the corresponding counter values for each counter type. Referringback to FIG. 1, the computing device may be router 112, computer 114,switch 116, or server 118.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example embodiment of second schema 301. Secondschema 301 in FIG. 3B is transformed from first schema 201 in FIG. 2Baccording to principles consistent with the present disclosure. As shownin FIG. 3B second schema 301 stores data 320. This example is pertainsto the computer processor related data shown in FIG. 2B. Time stampcolumn 322 includes time values that indicate when the counter valuesare collected. Instance identifier column 324 includes the logicalinstances, namely, “sqlserver” and “notepad.” Object descriptor column326 includes process identifiers. First primitive type column 328 is for“Processor time” counter, the second primitive type column 330 is for“HandleCount” counter and the third primitive type column 332 is for“ThreadCount” counter.

In an example embodiment, primitive types “Processor time”, “HandleCount”, and “Thread Count” are common to object descriptor “processidentifier”. Therefore in accordance with the present disclosure, secondschema 301 stores data in the format show in FIG. 3B, where the commonprimitive types are stored as column data. One of ordinary skill in theart will appreciate that data stored as illustrated in FIG. 3B mayreduce the amount memory required for computer processor performancedata. One of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that storingdata as shown may also reduce the complexity of querying data stored inthis format.

FIG. 2C illustrates another example of performance data 240 stored inaccordance with first schema 201. This example is related to VirtualPath (VP) and Virtual Channel (VC) data on a computing device. One ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate that a Virtual Channel is partof a Virtual Path. Furthermore, a Virtual Path may include multipleVirtual Channels. Like schema 201 depicted in FIG. 2A, data 240 mayinclude a plurality of rows 242, a time column 224, an instanceidentifier column 246, a primitive type column 248, and a primitivevalue column 232. Time stamp column 244 includes time values thatindicate when the counter values are collected. The instance identifiercolumn 246 may include device keys. A device key may be a series ofalphanumeric characters assigned to a device such as, for example, arouter.

In this example, all the rows correspond to a single device key. Theprimitive type column 248 includes Virtual Path Identifier (VPI)information, Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI) information, the number ofpackets input into each VCI, the number of packets output from each VCIand the status of the VCI. As shown in FIG. 2C, at a particular momentin time, i.e., 09:15 05, a device with device identifier bh1-k99 hasreceived 14508 packets on VC 50 which is part of Virtual Path 0.Furthermore, VC 50 has output 14493 packets at that time. Furthermore,VC 50 is in “up” status. Referring back to FIG. 1, the computing devicemay be router 112, an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) switch, a FrameRelay switch, or any other device that supports Virtual Channels andVirtual Paths.

FIG. 3C illustrates an example embodiment of second schema 301. Secondschema 301 in FIG. 3C is derived from first schema 201 in FIG. 2Caccording to principles consistent with the present disclosure. As shownin FIG. 3C second schema 301 stores data 360. As discussed with respectto FIG. 2C, this example is related to Virtual Path (VP) and VirtualChannel (VC) data. The time stamp column 362 may include time valuesthat indicate when the primitive type values are collected. The instanceidentifier column 364 includes device keys. The first object descriptorcolumn 366 includes Virtual Path Identifier (“VPI”) data. The secondobject descriptor column 368 includes Virtual Channel Identifier (“VCI”)data. The first primitive type column 370 is for “Input pkts” primitivetype, the second primitive type column 372 is for “Output pkts”primitive type, and the third primitive type column 374 is for “Status”primitive type. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate thatthe primitive types “Input pkts”, and “Output pkts” have primitivevalues stored as integers, whereas the primitive type “Status” hasprimitive values stored as string characters. It will also be apparentto one of ordinary skill in the art that certain data stored as aprimitive type in the first schema may be stored as an object descriptorin the second schema without departing from the scope of the disclosure.For example, in FIG. 2C, VPI and VCI data was stored as a primitivetype, whereas the same information is stored as object descriptors inFIG. 3C.

In an example embodiment, primitive types “Input pkts”, “Output pkts”,and “Status” are common to object descriptors “Virtual Path Indicator”and “Virtual Channel Indicator”. Therefore in accordance with thepresent disclosure, second schema 301 stores data in the format show inFIG. 3C, where the common primitive types are stored as column data.Second schema 301 in FIG. 3C may include additional rows storingperformance data 360 for other VCs on the same computing device asshown. Although corresponding information in first schema 201 is notillustrated for these rows in FIG. 2C, one of skill in the art willappreciate that the techniques used to store such data are the same asthe ones discussed above.

One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that data stored asillustrated in FIG. 3D may reduce the amount memory required forcomputer processor performance data. One of ordinary skill in the artwill also appreciate that storing data as shown may also reduce thecomplexity of querying data stored in this format.

Referring back to FIG. 1, in an example embodiment, schema generator 102includes normalizer 104. Normalizer 104 normalizes the instanceidentifiers and the object descriptors by creating correspondingmetadata identifiers. The problem of repetitive instance identifiers andobject descriptors is therefore addressed, thereby resulting in afurther reduction of size of the table generated by the second schema.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of data 400 stored in accordance with thesecond schema after applying normalization. Instance identifier—objectdescriptor pairs are identified. Furthermore, the identified instanceidentifiers and object descriptors are normalized by creatingcorresponding metadata identifiers and a metadata table is created. Forexample, for the instance identifier “bn1-f89-str-2c” and for the objectdescriptor “lo” (see also FIG. 3A), a metadata identifier “1” iscreated. Similarly, a metadata identifier “2” is created for theinstance identifier “bn1-f89-str-2c”, for the object descriptor “eth0”,and a metadata identifier “3” is created for the instance identifier“bn1-f89-str-2c” and for the object descriptor “eth1.” The instanceidentifiers and object descriptors are replaced with the metadataidentifiers. Additionally, the instance identifier column and objectdescriptor column are replaced with a metadata identifier column.Therefore, the data 400 after normalization includes a time stamp column402, a metadata identifier column 404, a first primitive type column406, and a second primitive column 408. One of ordinary skill in the artwill appreciate that the amount of data 400 is further reduced afternormalization. Such reduction in data may improve query response timeand may also reduce storage costs. For example, over ten times reductionin data may be achieved for a sample of experimental data. Additionaldata savings may be achieved depending on the sample data, sampleinterval, technical environment, and other such parameters.

Referring back to FIG. 1, in an example embodiment, the index generator106 creates an index for data generated by the second schema. The indexis created once and includes the columns that make up the objectdescriptor. For example in FIG. 3A the index will be on {Time, Device,Interface}. The primitive values corresponding to each primitive typeare not used in creating the index. The created index may be used toquickly and efficiently find the set of rows for a given objectidentifier and time range.

In order to further increase query response time, the repetitive stringsthat compose an object identifier may be stored in a separate “metadata”table. For example, referring back to FIG. 4, an index may be created oncolumns 402 and 404. Column 404 may represent a reference to anothertable, which may stores strings for device data and interface data.Referring back to FIG. 2A, this may allow for the storage of singleinteger to represent device and interface data instead of actual stringslike in columns 206 and 208.

FIG. 5 illustrates querying of an example data 400 generated by thesecond schema. The created index 500 may be used for faster searching.Based on a query 502 to determine performance data for an instance, thedata 400 is searched and an output 504 is generated. The index 500enables faster query response. Moreover, the query 502 based on theindex 500 has a simpler structure compared to a query directly on thedata 400 or, for that matter, data 200 in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 illustrates flowchart of a method 600 of performance datamanagement according to an example embodiment. The method 600 isdescribed by referring to components in FIG. 1. However, One of ordinaryskill in the art will appreciate that method 600 may be accomplished byother hardware and/or software components without departing from thescope of the disclosure. At 602, performance data 110 generatedaccording to a first schema is read. In an example embodiment, the firstschema may be read by schema generator 102. The first schema includesfields such as, for example, a time stamp, an instance identifier, anobject descriptor, a primitive type, and a primitive value. At 604, atleast one instance identifier and at least one object descriptor areidentified by the normalizer 104. As explained earlier, the instanceidentifier may be a device identifier or a logical instance identifierand an object descriptor may be an identifier to describe parameterssuch as, for example, interface data, central processing unit (CPU)data, Link State Path (LSP) data, Virtual LAN (VLAN) data, VirtualChannel (VC) data, or Virtual Path (VP) data. At 606, the identifiedinstance identifier and the identified object descriptor are normalizedby the normalizer 104 by creating a metadata id. The created metadata idcorresponds to the identified instance identifier and the identifiedobject descriptor.

At 608, a plurality of object descriptors having primitive types incommon are identified from the first schema by the schema generator 102.For example, object descriptors “lo” and “eth0” have a common primitivetype “IfInOctets” (as shown in FIG. 2). Such object descriptors areidentified. At 610, the schema generator 102 creates a second schemabased on the common primitive types. The second schema defines at leastone row for the created metadata id and at least one columncorresponding to a common primitive type. For example, referring to FIG.4, the rows correspond to respective metadata identifiers and theprimitive type columns 406 and 408 correspond to respective commonprimitive types “IfInOctets” and “IfInUcastPkts.”

FIG. 7 illustrates a method 700 of performance data management accordingto another embodiment. The method 700 is described by referring tocomponents in FIG. 1. However, One of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that method 600 may be accomplished by other hardware and/orsoftware components without departing from the scope of the disclosure.At 702, performance data 110 generated according to a first schema isread by the schema generator 102. At 704, from the first schema, aplurality of object descriptors having common primitive types areidentified by the schema generator 102. For example, object descriptors“lo”, “eth0”, and “eth1” have two common primitive type “IfInOctets” and“IfInUcastPkts” (as shown in FIG. 2). At 706, a second schema is createdby the schema generator 102. The second schema defines a plurality ofrows, where each of the rows includes a record corresponding to theidentified object descriptors. The second schema also defines at leastone column corresponding to a primitive type in common with theplurality of identified object descriptors. For example, referring toFIG. 3A, each row includes a record corresponding to the identifiedobject descriptors “lo”, “eth0”, and “eth1”. A first row includes arecord corresponding to the object descriptor “lo”, a second rowincludes a record corresponding to the object descriptor “eth0”, a thirdrow includes a record corresponding to the object descriptor “eth1”. Theprimitive type columns 310 and 312 correspond to respective commonprimitive types “IfInOctets” and “IfInUcastPkts.”

FIG. 8 illustrates a computer system 800 according to an embodiment.Embodiments described herein may comprise or utilize the computer 800.Computer system 800 typically includes at least one processing unit 802and memory 804. The memory 804 may be physical system memory, which maybe volatile, non-volatile, or some combination of the two. The term“memory” may also be used herein to refer to non-volatile mass storagesuch as physical storage media. If the computer system 800 isdistributed, the processing, memory and/or storage capability may bedistributed as well. As used herein, the term “module” or “component”can refer to software objects or routines that execute on the computersystem 800. The different components, modules, engines, and servicesdescribed herein may be implemented as objects or processes that executeon the computer system 800 (e.g., as separate threads).

In the present disclosure, embodiments are described with reference toacts that are performed by one or more computing systems, such as thecomputer system 800. If such acts are implemented in software, one ormore processors of the associated computing system that performs theacts direct the operation of the computing system in response to havingexecuted computer-executable instructions. Within the context of thecomputer system 800, computer-executable instructions may be stored inthe memory 804. Computer system 800 may also contain communicationchannels 806 that allow the computer system 800 to communicate withother message processors over a network 808.

Embodiments described herein also include physical and othercomputer-readable media for carrying or storing computer-executableinstructions and/or data structures. Such computer-readable media can beany available media that can be accessed by a computer system.Computer-readable media that store computer-executable instructions arephysical storage media. Computer-readable media that carrycomputer-executable instructions are transmission media.

Computer storage media includes recordable-type storage media, such asRAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that canbe used to store desired program code means in the form ofcomputer-executable instructions or data structures and which can beaccessed by a computer system.

A “network” is defined as one or more data links that enable thetransport of electronic data between computer systems and/or modulesand/or other electronic devices. When information is transferred orprovided over a network or another communications connection (eitherhardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to acomputer, the computer properly views the connection as a transmissionmedium. Transmissions media can include a network (e.g., the network808) and/or data links which can be used to carry or desired programcode means in the form of computer-executable instructions or datastructures and which can be accessed by a computing system. Combinationsof the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

Further, upon reaching various computer system components, program codemeans in the form of computer-executable instructions or data structurescan be transferred automatically from transmission media to computerstorage media (or vice versa). For example, computer-executableinstructions or data structures received over a network or data link canbe buffered in RAM within a network interface module (e.g., a “NIC”),and then eventually transferred to computer system RAM and/or to lessvolatile computer storage media at a computer system. Thus, it should beunderstood that computer storage media can be included in computersystem components that also utilize transmission media.

Computer-executable instructions comprise, for example, instructions anddata which, when executed at a processor, cause a computer or aprocessing device to perform a certain function or group of functions.The computer executable instructions may be, for example, binaries,intermediate format instructions such as assembly language, or evensource code. Although the subject matter is described herein usinglanguage specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, itis to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appendedclaims is not necessarily limited to the described features or actsdescribed herein. Rather, the features and acts described herein aredisclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present disclosure maybe practiced in network computing environments with many types ofcomputer system configurations, including, personal computers, desktopcomputers, laptop computers, message processors, hand-held devices,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, mobiletelephones, PDAs, tablets, pagers, routers, switches, and the like. Thepresent disclosure may also be practiced in distributed systemenvironments where local and remote computer systems, which are linked(either by hardwired data links, wireless data links, or by acombination of hardwired and wireless data links) through a network,both perform tasks. In a distributed system environment, program modulesmay be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

Although the processes illustrated and described herein include seriesof steps, it will be appreciated that the different embodiments of thepresent disclosure are not limited by the illustrated ordering of steps,as some steps may occur in different orders, some concurrently withother steps apart from that shown and described herein. In addition, notall illustrated steps may be required to implement a methodology inaccordance with the present disclosure. Moreover, it will be appreciatedthat the processes may be implemented in association with the apparatusand systems illustrated and described herein as well as in associationwith other systems not illustrated.

Example embodiments are described above, and those skilled in the artwill be able to make various modifications to the described embodimentsand examples without departing from the scope of the embodiments andexamples.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method of performance datamanagement, comprising: reading performance data according to a firstschema, wherein the first schema comprises an instance identifier field,an object descriptor field, a primitive type field, and a primitivevalue field; identifying at least one instance identifier from theinstance identifier field and at least one object descriptor from objectdescriptor field to be normalized; normalizing the identified instanceidentifier and the identified object descriptor by creating a metadataid to correspond to the identified instance identifier and theidentified object descriptor; identifying, from the object descriptorfield in the first schema, object descriptors having a primitive type incommon; and creating a second schema, wherein the second schema definesat least one row corresponding to the created metadata id and at leastone column corresponding to the common primitive type.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the identified instance identifier and the identifiedobject descriptor are normalized when data in their respective fieldsdoes not change over a plurality of polling intervals.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: polling at least one of one or morephysical instances and one or more logical instances in a network atpredetermined polling intervals; and storing a primitive value receivedfor the common primitive type from the polled instance in acorresponding column for the common primitive type.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: creating an index for data of the secondschema by excluding the primitive values, wherein the index correspondsto an instance.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: queryingthe index to determine performance data for an instance corresponding tothe index.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the instance identifieridentifies a physical instance in a network.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the instance identifier identifies a logical instance in anetwork.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the object descriptordescribes at least one of interface data, central processing unit (CPU)data, Link State Path (LSP) data, Virtual LAN (VLAN) data, VirtualChannel (VC) data, or Virtual Path (VP) data.
 9. A computer-readablestorage medium including instructions that, when executed by aprocessor, cause the processor to: read performance data according to afirst schema, wherein the first schema comprises an instance identifierfield, an object descriptor field, a primitive type field, and aprimitive value field; identify, from the objective descriptor field inthe first schema, object descriptors having a primitive type in common;and creating a second schema, wherein the second schema defines: aplurality of rows, the plurality of rows including a recordcorresponding to the identified object descriptors; and at least onecolumn corresponding to the common primitive type.
 10. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 9 further including instructions that,when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: identify atleast one instance identifier from the instance identifier field and atleast one object descriptor from the object descriptor field to benormalized; normalize the identified instance identifier and theidentified object descriptor by creating a metadata id to correspond tothe identified instance identifier and the identified object descriptor;and replace the identified object descriptors in the second schema withthe corresponding metadata id.
 11. The computer-readable medium of claim10, further including instructions that, when executed by the processor,cause the processor to create an index for data of the second schema byexcluding the primitive values, wherein the index corresponds to aninstance.
 12. The computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein theobject descriptor describes at least one of interface data, centralprocessing unit (CPU) data, Link State Path (LSP) data, Virtual LAN(VLAN) data, Virtual Channel (VC) data, or Virtual Path (VP) data.
 13. Asystem for managing performance data, comprising: a plurality ofcomputing devices whose performance data is to be measured; a schemagenerator connected to the plurality of computing devices, wherein theschema generator comprises a processor to: read performance data of theplurality of computing devices according to a first schema, wherein thefirst schema comprises an instance identifier field, an objectdescriptor field, a counter type field, and a counter value field;identify at least one instance identifier from the instance identifierfield and at least one object descriptor from the object descriptorfield to be normalized; normalize the identified instance identifier andthe identified object descriptor by creating a metadata id to correspondto the identified instance identifier and the identified objectdescriptor; identify, from the object descriptor field in the firstschema, object descriptors having a counter type in common; and create asecond schema, wherein the second schema defines at least one rowcorresponding to the created metadata id and at least one columncorresponding to the common counter type.
 14. The system of claim 13further including a data storage to store data in accordance with thesecond schema.
 15. The system of claim 13, further comprising anormalizer comprising a processor to normalize the identified instanceidentifier and the identified object descriptor when data in theirrespective fields does not change over a plurality of polling intervals.16. The system of claim 13, further comprising an index generatorcomprising a processor to create an index for data of the second schemaby excluding the counter values wherein the index corresponds to aninstance.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the index is query able todetermine performance data for an instance corresponding to the index.18. The system of claim 13, wherein the instance identifier identifies aphysical instance in a network.
 19. The system of claim 13, wherein theinstance identifier identifies a logical instance in a network.
 20. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein the object descriptor describes at least oneof interface data, central processing unit (CPU) data, Link State Path(LSP) data, Virtual LAN (VLAN) data, Virtual Channel (VC) data, orVirtual Path (VP) data.